Child&#39;s bib and tray cover



Feb. l1, 1958 B. RHowM'l-NE 2,822,548

CHILD's B1B AND TRAY covER Filed nec. 1955 @ma @Me .TTDRNEK United States Patent O CHILDS BIB AND TRAY COVER Lavinia Bauer Rhowmine, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Application December 8, 1955, Serial No. 551,900

1 Claim. (Cl. 2-49) This invention relates to improvements in childs bib and tray cover. The principal objects of this invention are: y

First, to provide a childs bib and tray cover which is easily manufactured in that the stitched connection between the llexible sheet of the bib and cover and the elastic retaining band that shapes the tray and holds the bib in proper position is easily made with the several parts of the sheet in proper relative position.

Second, to provide a combined bib and tray cover in which a single continuous band of elastic material functions both to shape and secure the bib and cover in position and to prevent tearing forces such as might rip the sheet material from being applied to the bib and tray cover proper.

Third, to provide a combined bib and tray cover in which a sheet of flexible plastic material is effectively bound and protected along its edges to prevent tearing of.. the material.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from a consideration of the following description and claim. The drawings illustrate a highly practical form of the invention.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the bib and tray cover operatively applied to a child sitting in a chair having a food tray located in front of the child.

Fig. 2 is a front or top plan view of the bib and cover.

Fig. 3 is a back or bottom view of the bib and cover.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary cross sectional view through the binding connection at the back of the bib taken along the plane of the line 4-4 in Fig. 3.

The present invention constitutes an improvement on the bib and tray cover disclosed and claimed in my Patent No. 2,457,725 dated December 28, 1948 for bib and tray cover. As in the prior patent the present bib and cover consists of a single integral sheet of exible material. Desirably the sheet material is water proof in character and plastic sheeting is highly satisfactory particularly in combination with the improvements to be described herein. The plastic sheet has a central body portion 1 with laterally spaced upwardly extending shoulder straps 2 which define a neck opening 3 therebetween., The outer sides of the shoulder straps are desirably cut inwardly from the sides of the body portion to form arm notches 4. The lower end of the body portion 1 merges into a depending and laterally projecting tray cover portion 5. The edges of the lshoulder straps 2 along the neck opening 3 and around the ends of the shoulder straps and the arm notches 4 are bound and reinforced by a single continuous binding tape 6 of exible but relatively inelastic material secured in place by stitching 7. The binding tape effectively resists any tendency to rip the bib caused by the child pulling against the neck opening or arm notches.

2,822,548 Patented Feb. 11, 1958 "ice The peripheral edges of the body portion 1 and cover portion 5 are secured to a single continuous length of elastic banding 8 which is secured in place as by stitching. In stitching the elastic band to the exible sheet the elastic band is uniformly stretched before being stitched so that when the tension on the band is released the edges of the body portion and the tray cover portion are uniformly gathered as at 9 and 10 respectively to shorten the body portion and form a tray receiving pocket 11 in the lower end of the tray cover portion. The upper ends of the elastic band 8 extend beyond the upper edges of the body portion in unsecured or exposed lengths 12 extending to the inner sides of the upper ends of the shoulder straps 2 which are rolled or folded rearwardly to approximately the same level as the bottoms of the arm notches 4. The elastic band is secured in unstretched condition to the ends ot.' the shoulder straps as at 13 by means of stitching 14 and an unsupported or unstit-ched length of the ban-d extends between the shoulder straps as at 15. An elastic retaining strip 16 bridges the sides of the tray receiving pocket to assist in holding the tray cover portion on the tray of a highchair.

The foregoing construction of the bib and tray cover has several advantages over the bib and cover shown in my prior patent. First only four pieces of material need to be cut to size for proper assembly of the bib and cover. These include the exible sheet 1, binding tape 6, elastic band 8 and the retaining strip 16. By properly cutting these parts from standard patterns it is practically impossible to improperly assemble or stitch the parts of the bib. Further the elastic band properly retains both the bib portion and tray cover portion in operative position without resorting to ties or fasteners and also guards against ripping of the flexible sheet. The vertically gathered portion 9 along the sides of the body portion 1 provides for adjustment of the bib to fit children of various sizes and ages. The improved bib and cover can be stretched over the childs head and arms and over the tray and later removed therefrom with ease and without danger of tearing any part of the bib or cover.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and is desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

A childs bib and tray cover comprising a single sheet of water proof tiexble material having a central body portion with a laterally enlarged :lower tray portion and two laterally spaced upwardly extending shoulder straps dening a neck opening therebetween and spaced from the side edges of the body portion to form arm notches, an inelastic binding tape secured around the edges of said straps, neck opening and arm notches, and a single elastic band secured in a continuous loop along the edges of the body portion and tray portion of said sheet and across the outer ends of said shoulder straps, there being free unsecured lengths of said band between said shoulder straps and the upper corners of said body portion, the edges of said tray and body portions being gathered on said band in the unstretched condition of the band to form a tray receiving References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Gibson July 27, 1948 Rhowmine Dec. 28, 1948 

